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Electric heavy-duty trucks are reshaping the freight landscape globally. We are seeing a seismic shift from diesel-powered to electric. Battery electric semi-trucks are getting a warm reception from those in the know, the drivers.
This has led to a lot of interesting social media buzz about driving heavy electric trucks versus diesel-powered. Here’s a recent, thoughtful post on Reddit by RoyalRs about driving a heavy‑duty commercial truck in Norway. It has a ton of responses from other drivers in the commercial trucking community.
“I drive trucks in Norway and 3 months ago we put our first out of 4 Scania 45S electric trucks in to service with me as the first to be assigned one.
The Drivetrain: The scania 45S has a battery pack with 462kwh available after factoring in the SOC limits for max and minimum charge and it is powering a set of 3 motors outputing 450kw/610hp continious power and 511kw/695hp peak. The 3 motors are connected to a 6-speed automatic gearbox based on the design Scania uses in their hybrid trucks.
The Truck: Scania built the 45 S in a way where it shares most of its construction with the normal diesel and LNG trucks. it uses the same frame and cab… The end result is that it shares a lot of the parts with the other trucks already in our fleet and most of the day to day maintenance can be done by us.
Driving it: Since it is in most aspects identical to a diesel truck there are very few differences when it comes to driving it. The dash board and cab is the exact same so you just press the brake pedal and turn the key like any other diesel-powered Scania and it uses the same lever on the right side of the steering wheel to control the gear shift and regeneration as a diesel would use for its gear shift and retarder/engine braking…
Range: Range is a bit hard to define because the terrain and loads change a lot plus we deliver multiple loads in a trip so an hour into an all-day trip I could already have emptied half of the truck. At 110k lbs. it does around 124-136miles, but when taking in to account that I usually don’t drive fully loaded the entire way I can go 186miles or more before I have to charge for the first time.
Charging: Most of the time when I have to charge it can all be done during my mandated 45 minute break period and a lot of the days I don’t use any extra time compared to if I had driven a diesel powered truck. Having tested it in down to 5 degrees Fahrenheit, I have yet to see any range difference and I am quite often beating the range estimate given in the dash board.
The not so good things: All in all, I have not found anything deal breaking with the truck and most of what I can comment on is the same in the diesel variant, but here are a couple. The size and weight of the batteries sometimes makes it hard to load right since it very quickly gets front heavy and they leave little room for anything else like hydraulic PTO systems and storage racks.
I love this truck and I don’t ever want to go back to diesel. The ride is almost silent compared to a diesel and there are no vibrations at all. It has a lot of power and while on shorter hills a high-power diesel can climb it faster on a longer hill the flat power curve combined with the fewer gears you can easy forget that you are pulling up to 132k lbs.”
Another Redditor asked if there enough truck charging sites to handle the demand and RoyalRs responded with:
“We don’t have a lot of truck specific chargers, but it takes me under a minute to unhitch the trailer so I fit into a lot of car charging spaces. Here in Norway we have a pretty extensive EV charger network where at a single place there can be 3 or 4 different charger networks.”
thejman78 added:
“Porter Electric, Daimler/Freightliner, Peterbuilt, Kenworth, Freightliner, Volvo, a few Chinese brands, and so on…also have real battery EV trucks on the road.”
Electric Trucks Surge as Diesel Declines
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Let’s look at the impact on the world’s largest heavy duty trucking market. China ranks first globally for both heavy‑duty truck production and sales volumes. In just the first half of 2025, sales of battery electric trucks rose 175% year-over-year, hitting 76,100 units. These vehicles made up roughly 25% of all new truck sales. Most of these trucks are currently used for short-haul routes in industrial hubs like ports, steel mills, and mining operations. This rapid shift has taken analysts by surprise and forced a downward revision of diesel demand forecasts.
Diesel Demand Faces Structural Decline
China’s reliance on diesel is beginning to fade. The transport sector, which burns two-thirds of the country’s diesel, is projected to reduce its use by 40% by 2030. This would amount to an overall decline in diesel consumption of around 25% compared to 2024. For this year alone, diesel usage is expected to fall by 11.3 million tons, or 6.3%, echoing last year’s drop. Analysts now expect China’s peak oil demand to arrive sooner than anticipated, with Rystad Energy moving its estimate from 2026 to sometime this year.
Drivers Find Confidence in Infrastructure
Truckers are embracing electric power, especially with the expansion of charging networks along key industrial corridors. A truck driver in Hebei province reported that driving an electric truck over 1,250 miles from Beijing to Yunnan is now manageable thanks to improved charging availability. Companies like Teld have constructed more than 2,400 truck charging stations and recently launched an 500-mile corridor linking Shanxi and Shandong. Though charging times can take up to 90 minutes, drivers are adapting, and the infrastructure continues to expand rapidly.
Cost Advantage Wins Fleet Managers
Cost efficiency is tipping the scales. While diesel trucks have lower upfront prices, the lifetime cost of ownership tells a different story. After one million kilometers, diesel trucks cost about $314,000 to operate, nearly 10% more than LNG trucks and 15% more than electric trucks. This cost gap, driven by high diesel prices and lower electricity costs, is accelerating the shift. The Chinese government also offers subsidies of up to $13,264 for new electric trucks, further sweetening the deal.
China is very motivated to incentivize the shift from diesel-powered trucks to electric, as their domestic petroleum production is lacking. China’s domestic crude oil production covers about 27.5% of its total crude oil supply, meaning roughly 72.5% is imported. For example, compared to the U.S. where approximately 75% of its own crude oil supply domestically, relying on imports for the remaining 25%. China can produce electricity domestically with its massive renewable energy infrastructure and reduce it dependence on foreign oil.
LNG Growth Slows as Electric Dominates
Liquefied natural gas (a fossil fuel masquerading as “clean”) trucks once looked promising, but their growth is losing momentum. Sales dropped 15% in the first half of 2025, due in part to rising LNG prices and limited refueling infrastructure. Although LNG trucks still represent a chunk of the market, the rapid rise of electric trucks has more than compensated for any slowdown, continuing to pressure diesel.
The Biggest Driver of Electric Truck Growth May be the Business Case
Companies are realizing that lower operating costs mean higher profits. Sany, China’s second-best-selling electric truck manufacturer, predicts that electric heavy trucks will represent 70% to 80% of all new truck sales within two to three years. As corporate fleet managers shift away from diesel, the pace of change is quickening. For many fleets, going electric is no longer just a clean choice, it’s a smart financial one.
Please Drop Your Thoughts in the Comments Below
If you’ve driven both, what surprised you the most about how electric heavy trucks perform compared to diesel?
Do you think it matters that China still imports 72% of its oil but can generate most of its electricity domestically?
Chris Johnston is the author of SAE’s comprehensive book on electric vehicles, “The Arrival of The Electric Car.” His coverage on Torque News focuses on electric vehicles. Chris has decades of product management experience in telematics, mobile computing, and wireless communications. Chris has a B.S. in electrical engineering from Purdue University and an MBA. He lives in Seattle. When not working, Chris enjoys restoring classic wooden boats, open water swimming, cycling and flying (as a private pilot). You can connect with Chris on LinkedIn and follow his work on X at ChrisJohnstonEV.
Image sources: Scania media kit, Volvo Group media kit
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Source: torquenews.com
